The University of Michigan men's track and field team will open the 2013 indoor season on Saturday (Jan. 19), hosting the annual Simmons-Harvey Invitational. Field events will begin at 10:30 p.m., with the running events following at 12:30 p.m. at the U-M Indoor Track Building. The Wolverines will be joined by Central Michigan, Detroit Mercy and Eastern Michigan for the non-scoring event.

Special RecognitionsPrior to the start of the running events at 12:15 p.m., the track and field programs will recognize their Olympians from the 2012 London Games. Michigan was represented by eight athletes -- four men and four women -- at the 2012 Olympics, four of which will be in attendance at the Simmons-Harvey Invitational to be honored -- Geena Gall (USA, 800m), Nicole (Edwards) Sifuentes (Canada, 1,500m), Uhunoma Osazuwa (Nigeria, Heptathlon) and Jeff Porter (USA, 110m Hurdles).

• Kris Eggle Invitational 3,000-meter Run -- For the eighth consecutive year, the Jack Harvey Invitational will feature a special invitational section of the 3,000-meter run named in honor of former Wolverine student-athlete Kris Eggle. A three-year Wolverine letterwinner in track and cross country (1992-94), Eggle was tragically killed in the line of duty on Aug. 9, 2002, while serving his country with the National Park Service at Organ Pipe National Monument on the Arizona-Mexico border.

• The men's Jack Harvey Invitational is held annually in honor of former head coach Jack Harvey, who spent 25 seasons at the helm of the program from 1975-1999. In that time, he guided the Wolverines to five NCAA top-10 finishes and 10 Big Ten titles (four indoor, six outdoor), and eight different Wolverines won 11 national titles under his tutelage. Harvey earned National Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year in 1980, and Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year in 1994. As a student-athlete, Harvey competed in track and field at the University of Michigan under legendary coach Don Canham. Harvey was an All-American and a two-time Big Ten shot put champion.

• Michigan has hosted the Jack Harvey Invitational for the last 12 years. This year will mark the sixth-consecutive year the meet will be held in conjunction with the women's Red Simmons Invitational.

• Fifth-year senior Bobby Aprill, senior Jack Greenlee and junior Ali Arastu were named tri-captains for the 2013 season. Each captain was chosen by the team and coaches to represent the different event areas-- Aprill (distance), Greenlee (field) and Arastu (sprints).

• The Wolverines return four student-athletes who earned All-America second team honors last indoor season. Ethan Dennis garnered the honor after finishing 14th in the weight throw, while Michael Parker Jr., Aaron Taylor and Ali Arastu were each members of the 4x400-meter relay team that finished 10th at the NCAA Championships to land on the All-America second team.

• The Jack Harvey Invitational will act as a tuneup meet for Michigan's dual meet with Michigan State on Jan. 26 at Grand Valley State. It will mark the first head-to-head indoor meet between the Wolverines and Spartans since 1976.

Qualifying Standards for NCAA Championships -- For the second straight year, provisional standards are no longer part of the qualifying process. Championship fields will first be filled with those who declare for their events with automatic status. Then, the remainder of the field will be filled by the highest-remaining ranked performances. [ Indoor Qualifying Standards ]

On being named one of three tri-captains ... "It means a lot of me to be named captain. For me, my leadership style is what it's always been, just being a good member of the team and really getting to know my teammates. It meant a lot to me for them to see me as a captain and vote me into that position. I've learned a lot from the leaders that I had though the years -- Craig Forys, Frank Shotwell, Carl Buchanon -- they all led by example with hard work, work ethic, and they're dynamic on and off the track. I think I have it pretty easy this year because there are leaders all across this year. You can only name three captains, but we have a ton of senior leadership across all event areas. The team is bonding well, so it makes the captains' job pretty easy."

On building on his success from last season ... "Last year going into outdoor Big Tens, I think I was coming in at the fourth or fifth seed, so I wasn't the favorite then, and I'm not coming into this season the favorite. I have a little bit of a target on my back after winning last year, but I'm going to approach everything the same way -- get things done at practice and treat every competition the same, trying to get my average mark up as high as possible going into the championship meets."

On what's special about this year's team ... "I think this year, more than ever, the unity between members of the team is great across sprints, field and distance. I feel like there a lot of people pushing each other, and that's going to make a big difference going into meets. I think we're there to support each other on and off the field."

On helping the freshmen get acclimated quickly ... "I only train with one freshman in particular in my group with Thomas Sullivan, but as far as the group goes, I do what I can on and off the field. A lot of that is with academics, trying to make sure they're in line and keeping up with their classes. I think we'll start to see what those guys are made of when competitions start. We'll be able to see how they're progressing and see what ways we can help push them."

On opening the season at home on Saturday ... "It's a great way for us to ease into competition. For us, we're jumping on our own pole vault pits, our own run ways, and our guys are used to this track. It's a good way to ease into it, and then we have the dual meet with Michigan State the next week, so we want to make sure we're really at the top of our game. This will be a nice tune up for us to get everything straightened out."